Justin Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 Spy Hunter Nintendo Entertainment System Controller: CONTROLLER / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: Default (Press Start To Play) Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / MAME / Emulation OK! ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST October 14th, 2019 OBJECTIVE: Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between October 1st through October 14th, 2019. Screen captures are not allowed as they are easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. The player with the highest score at the end of the competition is the victor! ELIGIBILITY: Anyone can join in. All players are welcome! PLAY RULES: Games may be played on real hardware, Flashback or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following rules and game settings as delineated in the Squad Challenge. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed. DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Default. Press Start to Play. FAIR PLAY: Players should play fairly, be honest, and have fun! Falsified scores will result in your immediate removal from the site. It goes without saying that no use of cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, Photoshop, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage is allowed. Everybody hates a cheater. MORE: To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: MESSAGE: Welcome to our 70th Squad Challenge! We're kicking off October with some super spy action, playing Spy Hunter on NES! I still have my original copy. I loved this game! I had so much fun taking turns playing this with friends when it first came out. I hope you guys enjoy this Squad Challenge as much as I will. ROM and Instruction Manual are provided below. Good luck to everyone playing! NOTE: Our next High Score Squad Challenge will be a Halloween challenge for the TurboGrafx-16. Be there! Spy Hunter.nes Spy Hunter.pdf RickR and Sabertooth 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Creep Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 15510 Emulating using a usb gamepad. RickR, Justin and Sabertooth 3 Don't just watch TV, PLAY IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 3, 2019 Report Share Posted October 3, 2019 (edited) Big problem on this game....it doesn't show your score for more than a few seconds after the game ends. I got 12225, but wasn't able to snap a picture in time. Is there some secret for getting the score back? ** UPDATE ** I switched to an emulator and will use the F2 pause button. (Thanks Creep for that tip from your video). Edited October 3, 2019 by RickR Atari Creep and Justin 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 3, 2019 Report Share Posted October 3, 2019 OK, first legit score. The emulator works well. 11885 Atari Creep and Justin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2019 14 hours ago, RickR said: Big problem on this game....it doesn't show your score for more than a few seconds after the game ends. I got 12225, but wasn't able to snap a picture in time. Is there some secret for getting the score back? ** UPDATE ** I switched to an emulator and will use the F2 pause button. (Thanks Creep for that tip from your video). Crap. Sorry guys. This seems to be happening a lot lately. Do the best you can and let's have fun with this! ☺️ Atari Creep 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2019 My High Score: 54,820 performed before an audience streaming on Instagram Live. This was a fun stream, @Atari Creep was there and I found the Boat House and was able to play as the Speed Boat for a little while towards the end. In 30 years of owning this game I don't think I've ever done that! The Speed Boat part was tricky, but very cool to see! Atari Creep and RickR 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2019 Here are photos of the Boat House and playing as the Speed Boat: Atari Creep and RickR 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenween Posted October 3, 2019 Report Share Posted October 3, 2019 Take the left bridge 3 times if you want to reach the Boathouse quickly. Justin, Atari Creep and RickR 1 2 "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 5, 2019 Report Share Posted October 5, 2019 I didn't see it in the manual: Does anyone know how the scoring works? Is it just based on time? Or do you get points for shooting/crashing opponents? greenween, Justin and Atari Creep 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenween Posted October 5, 2019 Report Share Posted October 5, 2019 I found this Rick. Armored Bullies (200 points each) Bullets cannot hurt them. Push them off the road by ramming their side. Best if you ram their front wheel with your back wheel. They will try to do the same to you. Oil and smoke can knock them off the road Description:Wide and fat Tireslasher (200 points) Can be shot by bullets or caused to veer off the road and die with oil and smoke blasts. DO NOT let them get to your side, as they have tireslashers to cause your tires to slash and spin off the road and crash. Description:Small and has white tireslashers sticking out where the hubcaps are supposed to be. Limo (500 points) These guys will get to your side and shoot at you with a pistol. It doesn't always hit, but if it does, you will get shot and spin off the road. Also use oil and smoke on them if they are behind you. Description:Very long and has a pistol pointing out the window at you usually Helicopter (700 points) Will drop bombs on the road. They will produce craters which can destroy you if you drive over it. Description:A white helicopter Stop in the road and line yoruself up with the helicopter and it won't drop bombs...Then release a missile if you got one. Otherwise, just keep going and dodge the bombs and their resulting craters. Crater:A large hole in the road made by the bombs. These will cause you to fall in and crash. Description:A small hole in the road about 1/4 the size of your car Boathouse:Eventually you will see one of these near a lone bridge. Drive into it! Description:A building next to the river that is about 4 1/2 times wider than your car Torpedo Tube boat (200 points):Releases Torpedo tubes, or the water eqivalent of a land mine...DO NOT carelessly tailgate it.. Bullets can kill it. Description:A large blue boat that travels rather slowly dropping Torpedo Tubes Atari Creep, RickR and Justin 3 "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 5, 2019 Report Share Posted October 5, 2019 18045 Atari Creep and Justin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 5, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2019 Here is a video of my performance from Thursday. This was my first time playing the game in 15-20 years and you can see me struggle in the beginning. Eventually I'm able to post a score of 54,820, find the Boat House and have fun playing the game. I didn't really have a strategy to begin with, but after playing it I came to realize two basic things: 1. Speed is my strategy. You gotta hit that sweet spot, so you can drive swiftly but don't crash. The longer you can stay alive, the more points you can acquire. Drive this car like you would drive on the highway, just because you can go super fast doesn't mean you want to. This is one of those rare driving games where you can consistently drive super fast without having to build up turbos, etc. The car can always just go super fast. I wouldn't always drive super fast though, because it's easier to crash into the back of a car or tree rather than just tap it and keep going. There's not a timer on this game, and you don't have to complete it within a certain time. What you don't want to do is crash and lose a life. My advice: slow down a bit, maneuver through traffic better, and save top speed for when you absolutely have to outrun someone. 2. Don't shoot red cars. That's friendly fire. Although red cars don't help you attack dark blue cars, the red cars and motorcycles are supposedly your friends. If you shoot them, the game penalizes you by preventing you from scoring points for a few moments and that hurts your overall score. (Apparently the light blue car is on your side too.) Try to only take out the dark blue cars or you will be penalized. I hope this helps! Good luck everyone! Atari Creep and RickR 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 5, 2019 Report Share Posted October 5, 2019 I had no idea on the red cars and motorcycles! Thanks, Justin. Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 5, 2019 Report Share Posted October 5, 2019 I'm going to say that the manual for this game is one of the worst I've seen. It only vaguely mentions that enemies are blue. Nothing about scoring. Thank you guys for the tips! Atari Creep and Justin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted October 8, 2019 Report Share Posted October 8, 2019 39,470. First attempt. RickR and Justin 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted October 8, 2019 Report Share Posted October 8, 2019 I've noticed if you don't crash before the timer on the lower right reaches zero you will gain an extra life. Otherwise you have to wait until you get 30,000 points for that extra life. If you can get an extra life both times that two extra lives. I agree with Justin...take your time, control your speed, watch out for baddies (blast 'em when you can!), get in those trucks, avoid helicopter drops, cracks, and other cars. On 10/5/2019 at 1:32 PM, RickR said: I'm going to say that the manual for this game is one of the worst I've seen. It only vaguely mentions that enemies are blue. Nothing about scoring. Thank you guys for the tips! Yea. Sunsoft's early NES titles had poor manuals. They didn't detail the games very well. They improved on that by the time Blaster Master and others to follow were released. Platoon's manual was of no help at all. Best Sunsoft games in my opinion are Blaster Master, Journey To Silius, and Fester's Quest. Although those games are probably the toughest games they ever released. Fester's Quest was a pain in the butt. I never could get far in Silius but loved the music so I kept trying. Blaster Master I could get to the end but only one time did I actually beat the game. Never played it since but it still remains one of my favorites. Spy Hunter is OK, not a favorite, and the manual could have done better explaining the game. RickR and Justin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 8, 2019 Report Share Posted October 8, 2019 I think I've learned quite a bit from watching your videos, so thanks for that. I want to try again very soon. Sadly, I lost my hard drive last night. I'll have to restore everything, including my emulators. Will try ASAP. I think the main issue I've had with the game is going way too fast. And now I see you also need to avoid shooting the "light-blue" cars too! Dang. I'm dense. Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2019 1 hour ago, RickR said: I think I've learned quite a bit from watching your videos, so thanks for that. I want to try again very soon. Sadly, I lost my hard drive last night. I'll have to restore everything, including my emulators. Will try ASAP. I think the main issue I've had with the game is going way too fast. And now I see you also need to avoid shooting the "light-blue" cars too! Dang. I'm dense. One other thing I need to highlight is that the light blue car is also on your team and you will apparently be penalized by shooting the light blue car as well. It's a little confusing, but it's the way the game plays. So, to recap: FRIENDS: Red Cars Red Motorcycles Light blue car ENEMIES: All dark blue cars Helicopters RickR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2019 Hey guys, having some fun with this game today. I just made it to an ICE LEVEL! I ignored the Boat House and kept driving regularly, passed the 4th or 5th bridge, keeping to the left I believe, and suddenly the forrest turned to snow, the road turned to ice, and driving became increasingly difficult! If you find yourself in an ice level use your instincts, slow down, and drive in the game the same way you'd drive on an icy road in real life. I managed to get past it but just barely. New High Score: 63,615 A FEW MORE TIPS: 1. You can manipulate the helicopter. Either to shoot it down, take out opponents cars, or avoid it entirely. I have found three strategies for this: A.) The Surface-to-Air Missiles give you 3 shots. Shooting down the helicopter can be a little tricky, but once you get the strategy down it can be consistent. Either line up right under the helicopter and maintain the same speed as the helicopter before firing your missile, or bring your car to a complete stop in the middle of the road and fire at the helicopter. You'll hit it and bring it down. B.) If you don't have Missiles you can pull in front of an enemy car (even a bulletproof one) go just fast enough so that enemy car doesn't touch you but comes close to your rear bumper, wait for the helicopter to drop it's bomb, and as soon as it does move out of the way. The helicopter's bomb will hit the road and leave a hole in the pavement which the car behind you will drive into and destroy itself. C.) You can manipulate the helicopter by really confusing it. If you're driving at cruising speed when the helicopter approaches you (somewhere around half speed) wait for the helicopter to come close, and then floor it to top speed. The helicopter will speed up and have a difficult time keeping up with you. Just as soon as it comes close, slam on the brakes as hard as you can and come to a complete stop. The helicopter will fly forward off the screen. As soon as your car comes to a stop, get going again and get your car back up to cruising speed. The helicopter will come back down and try to get you. Repeat this tactic another time or two and you should be fine. It's fun to confuse the helicopter. 2. Shoot the Limousine first. The limo is worth more points than almost everything else. The helicopter is worth more, but you see a lot more limos than helicopters. Target those limos and fire! It's not a bad way to rack up points. 3. Go easy on the Oil Slick to get the most out of it. I used to love holding that oil slick down and letting it flow. Not anymore. Just tiny little dabs. Move in front of the car you want to use the Oil Slick on and tap the button. It just takes one little squirt of Oil to slide an enemy car off the road. You have a limited amount, so save your Oil to use as often as you can on other cars and your Oil will last you a long time. RickR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 10, 2019 Report Share Posted October 10, 2019 A little better. 22125 Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted October 10, 2019 Report Share Posted October 10, 2019 Dang it. I had 50,490 points but my web cam was too slow to catch the photo because of it's 3, 2, 1, count down. And I can't remove that feature for whatever reason. Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2019 22 minutes ago, kamakazi20012 said: Dang it. I had 50,490 points but my web cam was too slow to catch the photo because of it's 3, 2, 1, count down. And I can't remove that feature for whatever reason. What's worse is the Pause button doesn't appear to work on Spy Hunter. Is there something I'm missing? I can't pause my game. I'm playing a real game on real hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted October 10, 2019 Report Share Posted October 10, 2019 This game does not have a pause feature. It's not anything you are missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 10, 2019 Report Share Posted October 10, 2019 (edited) I also could not pause on real hardware, so I switched to an emulator (jNES) which uses the F2 key to pause. I have no issue using the honor system for that score. Edited October 10, 2019 by RickR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted October 10, 2019 Report Share Posted October 10, 2019 4 hours ago, kamakazi20012 said: This game does not have a pause feature. It's not anything you are missing. Well, I stand corrected. Press A on controller 2 to pause the game. Weird setup for a pause button. Spy-Hunter-Game-Manual.pdf greenween, Justin and RickR 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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